I am looking for the cheapest possible SDR to receive ADS-B using dump1090. The ones I find on amazon.ca generally don’t go bellow $50, but I’m looking to get a bunch of cheap ones to use for testing with different projects, etc, instead of having to get 1 and switch it out.
Also, it doesn’t have to be the best one out there - I just want one that works enough to test with, even if it can’t find a lot of planes, etc.
Anybody know of anything (even one they got for cheap on Aliexpress which works)?
Any cheap DVB-T stick would work. But it’s wide band, so you might lose some data because of this. At least you will get some result, but not the best ones.
Hmm … you need to be carful saying that.
There are several front end chips what can’t receive 1090MHz.
Specificly there are the Fitipower (FC0011, FC0012, FC0013), the FCI FC2580 and the first of the type Elonics E4000.
All of the above use the RTL2832 USB chip, so they respond correctly to commands down the USB port, but the RF front end can’t (or won’t) tune to ADS-B.
When i installed my first receiver there were no cheap amplifiers and filters and it all worked.
When i started to experiment to see if i could improve my system i built a second almost identical system. As i experimented i had a standard system that was never changed and an experimental system to test each change.
For each change i could see if it was an improvement or not.
You won’t know if you need either or both a filter and amplifier until you try it.
Same with experimenting with antennae and placement if that is the experimental path you choose to take.
Prices have gone up for those. I have 3 or 4 of them and they were less than US$8-9 at the time. I wonder if it’s because of the R828D chip. Mine use the “original” one.
The stick suggested by @wiedehopf looks like a great replacement for the FA Blue stick. It reminds me of the ADSB Exchange one.
The “good old days”. I did the same. The amp and filter made a big difference in performance. That said my best improvement, as far as reliability went, was replacing the RPi3B+ with an RPi Zero2W.
For the OP, keep this in mind, the Zero2W is cheaper and less demanding of the power supply.
I’m certain the price will be double tomorrow. TBA
One similar to what @wiedehopf recommended was AU$21 a few days ago. I rushed in last week and payed AU$25 and it has been delivered and installed and is working very well.
I’m sorry but I can’t let that statement go unchallenged.
In an environment with lots of strong signals across the bandwidth that the dongle can receive filtering is very much needed. Here, without a 1090MHz filter in front of the dongle my received messaged drop dramatically due to intermods from FM Broadcast and VHF / UHF PMR signals.
Here, a filter is essential.
